And when He was come near, He be-rA held the city, and wept over it, say-ing, Ifthou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes." Luke 19:41, 42. The greatest problem of any indivi­dual or society is that they do not know the time in which they are living, and their duty in their time. The lamentati-on of Christ over Jerusalem is the best warning given to every inhabitant of this earth. We are always inclined to lament over other people who are not aware of the time in which they live and the duty they should fulfi ll in their lives. Instead, it would be better to apply all these war-nings given in the Scriptures to ourselves and not to be so self-satisfi ed. Above all other individuals and reli­gious organizations, we must be more concerned about how we, as the Ge­neral Conference of the Reform Move­ment, are approaching the time that is just before us. It is one thing to believe and be persuaded that our teachings and practice of the faith agree with all doctrinal biblical statements (meaning that we are on the right path) and qui­te another thing to know that holding a membership status in the church of Christ does not guarantee salvation. In fact, this should make us aware of the gravity of the situation and the serious responsibilities we have. In our time, we are dealing with im-mense Satanic power, and as the time becomes shorter, the enemy's energy is growing even stronger. The prophet in Patmos recorded certain words that have a directapplication to our times. „There-fore, rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, and of the sea! For the de-vil is come down unto you, having great	wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." Revelation 12:12. With our own knowledge and power we are not qualifi ed to meet this archene-my of the work of God. Since we have a great role to play in this war that has been brought down to our planet, we need to learn the correct methods that will equip us to face the enemy and receive practical training to „fi ght the good fi ght of faith" so that we may know what armour we need to take part in this battle that will lead either to eternal life or death. A prophet of old stated: „When the enemy shall come in like a fl ood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a stan­dard against him." Isaiah 59:19, second part. In this statement we discern that the Spirit of the Lord, namely the Holy Spirit, has to lead us in this battle if we want to be victorious because otherwise we shall certainly lose against our foe. The Holy Spirit transmits unfathomab-le energy from the throne of God to the inhabitants of this lost planet to prepare those who are enlisted in the army of the Captain of heaven. To be qualifi ed to take part in the fi ­nal struggle against evil, a person or an organization must fi rst pass a test. We have many examples in the Holy Scrip-tures which show us how God led those who claimed to be His servants, through a simple test, to reveal whether or not the Lord could use them, if a serious cri­sis arose amongst His people. We can learn from the case of Gideon, that out of thirty two thousand Israelites, only three hundred were found qualifi ed to go to battle against their enemies. Out of all who applied for service, three hundred was certainly less than one per cent. As in any other time, God used only those who proved faithful. Isaiah, the prophet,
declared: "For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return..." Isaiah 10:22, fi rst part. Now, the question is: How many people profess to believe in the second coming of Christ? If we apply the test suggested to Gideon, then less than one per cent will be saved. But according to the statement of Isaiah, the number of the sand of the sea, compared to the rem¬nant, is just a small portion. In the time of Noah, eight people were saved out of the many who perished in the fl ood. On the other hand, the prophet estimates that the fi nal result of the work of the gospel of Christ will be: "... a great mul-titude, which no man could number..." Revelation 7.9. Some of God's servants were, according to His plan, led directly to the palaces of famous kingdoms - Joseph, Moses, Daniel, Daniel's three friends, Esther and many more - to reveal God's plan for their time, and for the time of the end. These things are a warning to us that we should not hide ourselves in the time of storm, but help to "lif t up a standard against him (the en-emy)." A standard is a symbol of the authority of the King of heaven. To be able to quench all the fiery darts hurled against us by satanic forces, we must be invested with a strong f aith, that only the Spir-it of God can provide. There is no doubt that the storm is upon us, in the our spiritual condition be, as God's people and as His church in that time? "As the storm approaches, a large class who have professed faith in the third angel's message, but have not been sanctifi ed through obedience to the truth, abandon their position and join the ranks of the opposition." The Great Controversy, p. 608. As the people of God, we must lift up the standard of heaven -the principles of truth which only God can sanction, and they must be lifted up in a manner that will enable us to face all kinds of en-emies.	Every individual member of every lo­cal church, fi eld and union conference should work in unison with the General Conference in this preparation for the fi ­nal crisis, beside fulfi lling their duty to preach the gospel to all the world. How-ever, before anything else we should be sure of our personal preparation so that God's blessing may come upon us. Therefore, our teaching must be clear and supported by the word of God. Canvassing Department leader. should not agree to lessen the strength of our principles of faith in order to at-tract more members to our community. To make the road broader would mean turning the signposts in the wrong di-rection, and if this is the case we must be aware that certain consequences will surely f ollow that decision. Let us make it clear that we stand for the faith of our fathers who gave their life for the estab-lishment of this Ref orm Movement in the time of World War I. And as a result, our enemies will understand that we are sac-rifi cing all our personal interest to reach the goal set for us by "Jesus, the author and fi nisher of our faith." Let our people realize that we will have nothing to do with those who fall into any degree of apostasy, and that we will not apologize to them for not travelling together with them on the same track. Hence, all those who always cher-ished the desire that we would perish, will see that we are advancing in our work according to the plan and strength of our Captain. Let us be the light of this world, able to fulfi ll the prophecy of Isa¬iah 60:1 and Revelation 18:1. To reach that goal we must submit ourselves to the leadership of the Fa-ther, the Son and the Holy Spirit. "But, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the merey of our Lord, Jesus Christ unto eternal life." Jude 20:21. "The mighty power of the Holy Spirit works an entire transformation in the character of the hu¬man agent, making him a new creature in Christ Je¬sus. When a man is fi lled with the Spirit, the more severely he is tested and tried, the more clearly he proves that he is a repre-sentative of Christ. The peace that dwells in the soul is seen on the coun-tenance. The words and actions express the love of the Saviour. There is no striving for the highest place. Self is renounced. The name of Jesus is writ-ten on all that is said and done. "We may talk of the blessings of the Holy Spirit, but unless we prepare our¬selves for its reception, of what avail are our works? Are we striving with all our power to attain to the stature of men and women in Christ? Are we seeking for his fullness, ever pressing toward the mark set before us, the perfection of His char¬acter? When the Lord's people reach this mark, they will be sealed in their fore-heads. Filled with the Spirit, they will be complete in Christ, and the recording angel will declare, "It is fi nished." Review and Herald, June 10, 1902, page 9.

BRIEF REPORT OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE

Every fi ve years all the rep-resentatives of Gods work worldwide gather together to deliberate about the condition of the church of the Lord, as it is written in the biblical report in Acts 15:6: "And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter." This took place in the delegates' session that was held in Allecom, Hollnad, from 3 to 23 July 2002.
The official opening of the General Conference was intro-duced with the Word of God in Psalm 122: „ I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact togeth¬er: Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the tes-timony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord. For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, pros-perity within thy palaces. Formy brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace within thee. Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good."
The session of the General Confer¬ence was opened with the presence of delegates from different countries. Ac-cording to the agenda of the meetings, the offi cers presented their reports which showed the activities performed as well as the achievements obtained.
By God's grace we have approxi-matedly 25.000 members worldwide, distributed in 125 countries in which the Reform Movement is represented. A particular novelty was the presence of delegates from South Korea and Chi¬na, where divine Providence was made known to the real people of God. The work was also started in Madagascar, Bangladesh and other places.
The presentation of reports from the Unions and Fields that were represent¬ed was especially joyful since they gave proof s that there has been an increase of the membership. Unfortunately, the del¬egates of some countries were not pres-ent due to diffi culties to obtain a visa.
More than 100 proposals regarding or-ganization and theological issues were studied and discussed by the delegates and out-going of fi cers. A fi nancial com-mission was chosen that gave a series of recommendations to the full session, which were accepted to be applied dur-ing the coming period. The election of the new of fi cers was one of the activities to be performed, as well as the planning of the work worldwide, which was del-egated to a commission formed for that purpose.
The new offi cers of the General Conference for the next fi ve years, are the following:
President

Br. Branco Cholich

ASIA
Northern Asia (South Korea, Japan, China, eastern Rus-sia): Br. Dae Chun Kang.
Southern Asia and Pacif-ic (Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, and the island of the South Pacifi c): Br. Anton Salaviov.
AFRICA
Southern Africa (South Af¬rica, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Malawi, and Zim-babwe): Br. Emmanuel Chil-eshe.
Eastern Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burun¬di, Rwanda): Br. Parmenas Shirima.
Portuguese - French Africa (Madagascar, Mo¬zambique, Angola): Br. Da¬niel Valverde.
EUROPE
Scandinavia (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finnland, Estonia, Lithuania, and La¬tvia): Br. Valdimir Marinov. Central Europe (Germany, Swit-zerland, Austria, Poland, Belgium. Holland, and Great Britain): Br. Tz¬vetan Petkov.
Eastern Europe (European Russia, Ukraine, Moldavia, Rumania, Bulgar¬ia, Hungary, and Yugoslavia): Visits by brother Gerhard Hunger.
Sothwestern Europe: (Portugal, Spain, France, Greece, Italy and Tur-key): Br. Antonino Di Franca.
AMERICA
English speaking North America (Can¬ada, USA, and the Caribbean Islands):
Br. Gary Foster.

Spanish speaking North and Central America (Mex¬ico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Belize, Nicara¬gua, Costa Rica, Panama and the Caribbean Islands) Br. Pablo Rodríguez.
South America 1 (Vene¬zuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia) Br. Alfon¬so Reto.
South America 2 (Bra-zil, Chile, Argentina, Uru¬guay, Paraguay): Br. Julio Sandoya.
Fields supervised by the committee of the Gen¬eral Conference: Congo, Cameroon, Ghana, Bangla-desh, Haiti, Surinam and Nigeria.

Below are some of the resolutions taken in this General Conference:

Spirit of Prophecy:

We believe that the writings of sister Ellen G. White are inspired by God and a great blessing. Their understanding, interpretation, and application do not depend on whether they were pub-lished before or after her death, but on the context, the time and place, the cir¬cumstances, and the persons to whom they were originally written."

Marriage
"No change will be made in the position of the church regard-ing divorce and remar riage."

Holy Supper
"Because of consider-ations concerning in-fection with the AIDS virus, the church is free to use small chal-ices or glasses. If the members of the local churches choose to serve the wine in one cup, they are autho-rized to use the one cup. Those who decide or desire to use individual cups are free to use them for the communion service

Elders
"Re-ordination of elders and ministers coming from other denominations."
"An ordained elder may not perform a wedding ceremony."

Cross
"The cross may not be used as a sym-bol."

A group ofdelegates (from left to right): Brothers J. Theodorou, B. Cholich, D.
Hunger, N. Botsheff, S. Gutknecht, B. Ch. Kang, H.J. Lee, H. Karinda,
A. Etongwe and center G. Gowie.

Health Reform

"We recommend that the members abstain from the use of chemical products that are harmful to the body or hair, and we are opposed to all extremes of hair fashion."
"We reject every kind of commercial traffi c in organs, but we have nothing against something that can save lif e. Every person should decide according to circumstances and the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit."

G. C. headquarters
"Transference of the headquarters of the General Conference from Germany to USA."
Statutes
"Revocation of the right of veto of the president of the General Conference."
IDF
"Creation of a International Develop-ment Fund (IDF) as a substitute for Highways."
Supervision
"A report of the auditors corre-sponding to the balances and re-ports of the General Conference should be annually sent to the unions and fi elds."

The following words of the Holy Scriptures summarize the prin¬cipie that motivates the world mis-sionary work in which our souls, hearts and minds are united, since the good news of salvation in Je¬sus Christ, our Redeemer, must reach ,,every tribe, language and nation," ation,“ „Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.... In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both alike good. ..."(Eccl. 11:1,6) Amen.

Many people today are calling for unity. And this call is not just from politicians who want to fi ght interna-tional terrorism or from those who seek to unite all Christians, and even all reli-gions, into one world religion. This is al-so coming from Adventists. Why? Partly because there are so many different fac-tions but more so because we know that the latter rain will not fall upon God's people (as the early rain fell upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost) until they are truly united. "In unity there is strength." -Ellen G. White, Selected Mes-sage, vol. 1, p. 168.
Over and over again, people ask the question, "Why is there no unity?" But this is really the wrong question. We should first ask, "Why is there divi¬sion?"
"The cause of division and discord in families and in the church is separation from Christ. To come near to Christ is to come near to one another. The secret of true unity in the church and in the f amily is not diplomacy, not management, not a superhuman effort to overcome diffi cul-ties-though there will be much of this to do-but union with Christ.
"Picture a large circle, from the edge of which are many lines all running to the center. The nearer these lines ap-proach the center, the nearer they are to one another.
"Thus it is in the Christian life. The closer we come to Christ, the nearer we shall be to one another. God is glorifi ed as His people unite in harmonious ac-tion." -Ellen G. White, The Adventist Home, p. 179.
True unity, then, is not a oneness of mind, or view, or opinion, but a oneness of purpose and spirit. It is a blending to-gether of various talents for a common good. There must be a unity in diversi-ty. And God has granted to His people different gifts, as explained so clearly in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, and Ephe-sians 4. Each member needs to do his or her part as a faithful stew-ard. After that, we are all to blend our diversity together into one united whole and w o rk for the edifying (building up) of the body of Christ, His denominated people. See Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, p. 18; Evangelism, p. 121; Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commen-tary, vol. 7, p. 981, etc.
"The religion that comes from God is the only religion that can lead to God." -Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, p. 156. If we are one with Him, we will be in harmony with everyone else who is one with Him. Thus, the true unity which will reveal the power of God to the world is that unity which comes from being one with God. That's why it is time to seek the Lord. God has given us varied opportunities and responsi-bilities. It is by using these honestly to consumed so the Lord may put His heav-enliness in us.
A man was once visiting a mental ward in a hospital and asked the direc¬tor, "With so many people here, are you not afraid that they will unite and over-power the three of you who are manag-ing the place and escape?"
The director simply answered, "Have you ever seen any two crazy people agree on anything?"
That anecdote gives us a clue as to what it will take for us to work togeth-er-to be united. What would you give to see the Holy Spirit fall upon God's peo¬ple in the Latter Rain? There is a price, but it is not money. We must come into unity, a unity built on the truth that is in Jesus. The power of unity comes from a personal connection with Christ. All who are one in Him will be one with each other. But this requires us to give up self. Remember that all separation is caused by separation from Christ. To be one with Him means we have been cru-cifi ed with Him. To awake from dead works, we must fi rst die-to the old man, to self. So, the secret of the unity of be-lievers is for each one individually to choose to put self aside and allow God to work and to will in and through him. Yes, it is NOW time to seek the Lord. Soon it will be too late for us. God will have a people who have yielded every-thing to Him. Will that be you? Will that be I? It can be, but you and I must take the time to seek the Lord-NOW-before it is too late.

From left to right: BrothersG.Hun J. V. Giner praising